Searcher Beware or Turpiculo Puella Naso, Take What You Get
May 6, 2021
More Google ads, more questions like this one: How many would knowingly pay to have an algorithm dial a number for them? Apparently, searchers are being tricked into doing just that, we learn from this article posted at the Which? Press Office: “Misleading Customer Service Ads on Google are Costing Consumers, Which? Reveals.”
Researchers at Which?, a consumer advocacy organization in the UK, studied the results that popped up when they searched for car insurer’s phone numbers. They found both high-rate call connection services and claims-management companies often appeared at the top of the list, before the insurers’ own sites. The write-up tells us:
“Which? found one in five searches (21%) displayed adverts for ‘call connecting’ services at the top of the results. These adverts appear above the insurer’s number and when consumers tap on an advert, they’ll be taken to a website which displays a large phone number and a button that says ‘click to call’. Consumers will be put through to their insurer, but via a premium-rate phone number. The cost of making these calls can quickly escalate – with a 30-minute phone call costing £112.50 on Sky, £124.50 on Three and £127.50 on Vodafone.”
As of this writing, £1 equals $1.39 US. That is a lot to skip the bother of dialing (or copy-and-pasting) for oneself. Such ads officially violate Google’s rules, and the company swears it removes them. And yet, there they were. Then there are the claims management companies. We learn:
“The investigation also found ‘click to dial’ ads for claims management companies (CMCs) were rife and appeared in two in five searches (43%) for customer service phone numbers. ‘Click to dial’ ads have a clickable number in the search result itself. Some of these ads can trick customers to believe they’re contacting their insurer, when they’re actually being put through to a third-party to handle their claim, who will take a cut from any insurance payout. These charges often aren’t stated upfront on the CMCs websites and can catch consumers unaware.”
Insurers have been complaining to Google about these ads for years, but can do little about them but warn their customers. Only if the CMC performs certain deceptions, like using an insurer’s logo, can the company petition to have the ads removed. Less infringing tricks, like using the word “official,” are just fine by Google. To get their own ads to appear at the top, insurers must pay more and more protection (aka advertising) money to Google. Again, Google swears it does not allow misleading advertising. Which? is trying convince the search giant to do more to stop these ads, but they are battling uphill against the power of ad revenue. Meanwhile, users are reminded to check for the little word “Ad” in the top corner of search results and to check that results match the term they entered and state the name of the company they are trying to connect with. As long as Google refuses to protect its users, caution is required.
Cynthia Murrell, May 6, 2021
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